Feature: Modern Metagame Breakdown

Rashad MillerSaturday, November 19, 2011

Day Three of Worlds rolled around and Modern was the format. Let's take a look at the more popular archetypes.

Archetype

Number

%

Zoo

92

28.31%

Splinter Twin

49

15.08%

Affinity

29

8.92%

Mystical Teachings

16

4.92%

Gifts Ungiven

13

4.00%

UR Storm

12

3.69%

Burn

11

3.38%

Death Cloud

11

3.38%

Jund

11

3.38%

Melira Combo

8

2.46%

Next Level Blue

8

2.46%

4c Control

6

1.85%

Ad Nauseam

6

1.85%

Doran

5

1.54%

Grixis Control

5

1.54%

Pyromancer Ascension

5

1.54%

Bant Aggro

4

1.23%

Barely Boros

4

1.23%

Small Pox

4

1.23%

UW Tron

3

0.92%

UW Control

3

0.92%

Living End

2

0.62%

Martyr of Sands

2

0.62%

UB Control

2

0.62%

Fair FIght Faeries

2

0.62%

UR Delver

2

0.62%

Bant Control

1

0.31%

Elves

1

0.31%

Infect

1

0.31%

Junk

1

0.31%

Kavu Predator Aggro

1

0.31%

Snow White

1

0.31%

Soul Sisters

1

0.31%

Through the Breach

1

0.31%

UR Faeries

1

0.31%

Uwr Control

1

0.31%

Coming in first was Zoo with an overwhelming 92 decks. There was no denying the power of turn-one Wild Nacatl as this turned out to be the go-to deck for most competitors. Many lists further improved on the Bant Charm splashes from Pro Tour Philadelphia with the inclusion of the ever-popular Snapcaster Mage.

Forty-nine players were convinced that Splinter Twin was the deck to play. This two-card combo was hardly affected by the recent Modern bannings and we could see Deceiver Exarch and Pestermite tokens in overwhelming numbers. Literally.

Rounding out our top five were two...control decks? Teachings had 16 players and Gifts had 13 players. The recent bannings helped remove turn-three and turn-four wins in aggro and control decks. Would that be enough to allow a control deck to flourish?

This was only five of the 35 archetypes seen on Saturday. Modern was showing itself to be very wide open, even in these early stages of the format. Will a new deck emerge as the deck to beat? We would find out at day's end on Saturday.